Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Skilla Baby Talks New Album 'The Price of Fame', Spiritual Journey, Recovery After Being Shot, Detroit + More

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INTERVIEW: Skilla Baby Talks New Album 'The Price of Fame', Spiritual Journey, Recovery After Being Shot, Detroit + More · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Hold up.
0:01
Speaker 2: Every day I wake up.
0:03
Speaker 3: Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. You all finished
0:05
Speaker 3: or y'all done? Yep, it's the world's most dangerous morning show,
0:10
Speaker 3: The Breakfast Club. DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God.
0:13
Speaker 3: Envy is on vacation, but LL Cool Bay, Lauren LaRosa
0:15
Speaker 3: is here. And we got a special guest in the building.
0:17
Speaker 3: He's got a new album called The Price of Fame. Skilla, baby.
0:21
Speaker 2: What's happening, brother? Good morning. Good morning.
0:23
Speaker 1: How you doing?
0:24
Speaker 3: I'm good.
0:24
Speaker 2: How y'all doing?
0:25
Speaker 3: How you feeling, man? How's your energy this morning, man?
0:27
Speaker 1: I'm good.
0:27
Speaker 2: All right.
0:29
Speaker 3: Why you looking at me like that?
0:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's going on?
0:31
Speaker 4: Something else was coming after.
0:32
Speaker 1: There's nothing else coming.
0:34
Speaker 3: I'm asking the brother how he feel.
0:36
Speaker 1: He just was like, he's ready.
0:37
Speaker 3: He don't go. I don't go?
0:38
Speaker 1: No, I'm good.
0:39
Speaker 3: Chilling?
0:40
Speaker 5: Okay.
0:40
Speaker 2: I'm chilling.
0:42
Speaker 3: I saw some of your conversation with Pretty V.
0:44
Speaker 1: I love it.
0:45
Speaker 3: And I see that you're on a, I would say
0:47
Speaker 3: a spiritual journey, you know, a journey of doing the
0:49
Speaker 3: work on yourself, which I respect and appreciate.
0:51
Speaker 2: Appreciate you.
0:52
Speaker 3: What got you on that pathway? I don't know.
0:56
Speaker 2: I just feel like I'm supposed to be obedient right now.
0:59
Speaker 2: So I can't really answer why. Like, I don't ask
1:02
Speaker 2: God why. I just feel like I should be obedient
1:05
Speaker 2: right now.
1:07
Speaker 1: When did you realize that he was talking to you? Like,
1:11
Speaker 1: what was that moment?
1:13
Speaker 2: I don't think I have a moment. I think I
1:14
Speaker 2: had multiple moments. And then, like, God would be sending
1:18
Speaker 2: me signs and I won't pay attention to him until
1:21
Speaker 2: after something wrong had happened or my downfall or something
1:25
Speaker 2: like that. And I feel like I just wasn't being
1:29
Speaker 2: obedient in the moment. And I feel like now it's like,
1:32
Speaker 2: don't ask God why, just do it.
1:35
Speaker 3: I see you started off with Baptism Sunday and it
1:37
Speaker 3: goes into God's, you know, favorite, like, have you always
1:41
Speaker 3: been a spiritual person?
1:44
Speaker 2: I haven't been super spiritual. I grew up spiritual. I'm
1:48
Speaker 2: not really religious, but, like, and I don't judge religions
1:52
Speaker 2: or whatever because I feel like if you're a good person,
1:54
Speaker 2: you're going where you need to go. But, I'm more spiritual.
1:58
Speaker 2: I was raised spiritual.
1:59
Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
2:00
Speaker 2: And, um, I think I wasn't really mature enough to
2:03
Speaker 2: understand it. Now I'm understanding it a little more, like,
2:06
Speaker 2: my faith personally.
2:08
Speaker 3: The album is called The Price of Fame, right? So,
2:11
Speaker 3: what's something fame cost you that you didn't even know
2:14
Speaker 3: you were going to have to pay for?
2:17
Speaker 2: Fame cost me my childhood. Like, just being young, wanting
2:22
Speaker 2: to do fun stuff.
2:24
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
2:25
Speaker 2: Um, my neighborhood, like my comfortability. I had to move,
2:32
Speaker 2: do stuff like that. Like it'd be a little stuff
2:35
Speaker 2: that people don't really notice that it's just really fame
2:38
Speaker 2: was my word for success. Like I wanted my album
2:42
Speaker 2: to be like recognizable to like the average person.
2:46
Speaker 1: So, yeah, you said that.
2:48
Speaker 2: I think like success, just chasing success just cost me
2:52
Speaker 2: a lot. My friendships with people, um, Like I said, comfortability,
2:57
Speaker 2: like everything for real, all the little stuff. Like I
3:00
Speaker 2: don't even, I'm family oriented, but I don't have kids
3:05
Speaker 2: or anything because I want to dedicate my life to
3:07
Speaker 2: my kids when I have them. But like chasing success,
3:10
Speaker 2: it just be a lot.
3:13
Speaker 3: So now that you're successful, how do you stay connected,
3:16
Speaker 3: I guess, to that average man person without pretending you're
3:20
Speaker 3: still struggling? Because you're clearly not struggling. Your chain is
3:23
Speaker 3: blinding the whole guy.
3:24
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
3:26
Speaker 2: I just do regular stuff. I try to go work out, golf,
3:32
Speaker 2: do regular stuff that I like to do. Take walks,
3:36
Speaker 2: walk my dogs, ride my boat, do all that stuff
3:38
Speaker 2: like that instead of trying to do superficial stuff because
3:43
Speaker 2: that don't really make me happy.
3:45
Speaker 1: What about golfing do you like? Because I notice everything
3:48
Speaker 1: you said is like some people will call it boring, right?
3:51
Speaker 1: But it seems like it's very zenful. Golfing, that's what
3:54
Speaker 1: my husband does it in He actually, he said it
3:57
Speaker 1: gives him a sense of peace. It's therapeutic. It helps
4:00
Speaker 1: him like, it's like an outlet for him. It helps
4:04
Speaker 1: him quiet the noise because it's so quiet on the
4:06
Speaker 1: golf course. It's also a lot of business on the
4:08
Speaker 1: golf course too. But what does golfing do for you?
4:11
Speaker 2: Golfing is, it's a sport where it requires discipline. Even
4:16
Speaker 2: like when you, because I'm not very good at it,
4:18
Speaker 2: but I like doing it. But you practice in your swing.
4:22
Speaker 2: If anything wrong with your swing, It's not going to
4:26
Speaker 2: go far. It's going to veer right, veer left. It
4:30
Speaker 2: requires discipline. It's peace. You got to be one with yourself.
4:36
Speaker 2: It's a lot of stuff. Plus the networking you get
4:39
Speaker 2: out there, all that type of stuff. I just like
4:42
Speaker 2: doing it because it's something far left from where I
4:46
Speaker 2: come from.
4:49
Speaker 6: You've talked about you want this album to be healing
4:51
Speaker 6: for people. Do you feel like you were healed from
4:54
Speaker 6: some of the things that you were maybe trying to
4:55
Speaker 6: escape or like trying to figure out at this point
4:58
Speaker 6: and now you want to pass it on?
4:59
Speaker 4: Or are you still figuring a lot of that out
5:00
Speaker 4: for yourself?
5:01
Speaker 2: I think I'm still healing. I think I'm healed from
5:03
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff, but I think I'm still healing.
5:05
Speaker 2: But I think you never really heal from certain things.
5:08
Speaker 2: And I had to mature enough to really realize that.
5:12
Speaker 2: I ain't going to never heal from that. You know
5:14
Speaker 2: what I'm saying? But I feel like the album helped
5:16
Speaker 2: me for sure. I think it helped me like little stuff.
5:22
Speaker 2: I'm from the ghetto, so... I handle stuff a certain way,
5:25
Speaker 2: and I feel like just doing this album and getting
5:27
Speaker 2: close with God, it helped me get stronger as a person.
5:32
Speaker 2: Because it's so easy for me to go do some bull,
5:37
Speaker 2: but it was hard for me to walk away from
5:38
Speaker 2: certain things and certain lifestyles and everything, because it's fun too.
5:43
Speaker 3: I feel like you're unlearning a lot of bullshit right now.
5:47
Speaker 3: When you grow up a certain way in a certain environment,
5:50
Speaker 3: there's certain things that we learn that protect us in
5:54
Speaker 3: that moment that helped us to survive. But then you
5:56
Speaker 3: realize you get to another level and you like, and
5:58
Speaker 3: that way that I used to be, I can't take
6:01
Speaker 3: that with me to the next level. So I got
6:03
Speaker 3: to unlearn all of that shit. And now you're like
6:06
Speaker 3: in a space where you said you just, you know,
6:08
Speaker 3: being told to be silent and be obedient. And I
6:11
Speaker 3: think it's because you're getting a whole new set of
6:15
Speaker 3: things being poured into you for that next level.
6:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, probably. So I think, um, I never really heard
6:23
Speaker 2: it that way, like unlearning. So basically you're saying like
6:27
Speaker 2: behaviors that I'm accustomed to.
6:29
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
6:30
Speaker 2: That I'm letting go.
6:30
Speaker 3: You're letting them go.
6:31
Speaker 2: That's right. Probably so. But I also think about like
6:38
Speaker 2: if I go do 20 to 30 years, then my mama,
6:41
Speaker 2: her bills ain't paid. You know what I'm saying? So
6:43
Speaker 2: I be thinking about that too. It'd be selfish of
6:45
Speaker 2: me because I really be wanting to do some evil
6:47
Speaker 2: stuff sometimes.
6:49
Speaker 3: But that's unlearning. Because 10 years ago, you'd have been like, nigga,
6:51
Speaker 3: crash this whole shit up.
6:52
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying?
6:54
Speaker 3: Like, I'll go sit down, not even knowing what that means.
6:57
Speaker 3: You're sitting there for 20, 30 years like, oh my God,
6:59
Speaker 3: what the fuck was I thinking?
7:01
Speaker 2: But like I said, it would be 20 to 15
7:05
Speaker 2: to 20 people that their lifestyle got to change if
7:07
Speaker 2: I do that. So I try to not be selfish
7:10
Speaker 2: in the moments when I have them thought.
7:13
Speaker 1: And going back to what you said about, you know,
7:15
Speaker 1: you don't have kids on purpose right now because... You're
7:18
Speaker 1: trying to chase your dream. You know, you're working towards something.
7:21
Speaker 1: I remember talking to Will.i.am about that, and he said
7:24
Speaker 1: the same thing. Well, from the Black Eyed Peas, he said,
7:27
Speaker 1: I said, why you don't have kids? I mean, no,
7:29
Speaker 1: I didn't ask him why he don't have kids. That's crazy.
7:31
Speaker 1: It was something about us. That's what she said. Shut up.
7:33
Speaker 1: I may have. I don't know. But he said because
7:35
Speaker 1: he felt like when he had kids, he has to
7:38
Speaker 1: devote his whole life to his kids. Basically what you
7:40
Speaker 1: just said. He don't want to be selfish because he's
7:42
Speaker 1: still on his grind. Is that true? Does being a father,
7:46
Speaker 1: you fear that or that it's just really going to
7:48
Speaker 1: pull you away from, are you afraid of being pulled
7:50
Speaker 1: away from your music?
7:52
Speaker 2: I don't feel like I'm afraid of being pulled away
7:55
Speaker 2: from my music. I just know when I have kids,
7:57
Speaker 2: I'm going to stop everything to pour into them.
8:00
Speaker 1: That's the same thing you say. You don't feel like
8:02
Speaker 1: you could do both?
8:05
Speaker 2: I could do both, but I feel like that would
8:07
Speaker 2: be selfish on my part because kids don't ask to
8:11
Speaker 2: be here. So I feel like me having a child
8:15
Speaker 2: For me not to be there in part of their
8:17
Speaker 2: moments in their life, I feel like that's selfish on
8:21
Speaker 2: my part. And even more selfishly, I would want to
8:26
Speaker 2: be there for that. I want to see that. I
8:29
Speaker 2: feel like when the time is right, I have them.
8:32
Speaker 2: But I want to be selfless for my kids, and
8:35
Speaker 2: I don't want to have to go to work and
8:37
Speaker 2: do all that. I want to just pour everything into them.
8:40
Speaker 5: Yeah.
8:42
Speaker 3: I saw you say too that you were trying to
8:44
Speaker 3: present yourself as bigger than life, but now you realize
8:47
Speaker 3: relatability is more powerful. So what were you hiding behind
8:52
Speaker 3: that larger than life version of Skilla?
8:55
Speaker 2: I think just where I come from, like Detroit is
9:00
Speaker 2: a real flashy city and you get caught up in
9:05
Speaker 2: big chains, big houses, big cars, hood stuff like that.
9:11
Speaker 2: And just traveling and doing the work and studying people's
9:17
Speaker 2: albums and great people, I started figuring out that the
9:23
Speaker 2: hood is a small demographic of people. There's more people
9:27
Speaker 2: that's not doing good than doing good. That's why they
9:31
Speaker 2: call them the one percenters or whatever they call them.
9:34
Speaker 2: And it's okay to be vulnerable. I used to think like, yeah,
9:39
Speaker 2: I got to.
9:41
Speaker 2: Mask everything I'm going through and put it into some diamonds. Like,
9:46
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying? So I bought three Richard Millies,
9:49
Speaker 2: do all that type of stuff. And it's like, it's
9:51
Speaker 2: not really high on what I'm going through because money
9:54
Speaker 2: can't really, money can't really, it can mask it, but
9:58
Speaker 2: it can't really make it go. away like I made
10:01
Speaker 2: a lot of money and it never made what I
10:04
Speaker 2: really felt going away go away like you.
10:06
Speaker 3: Know what I'm saying it's retail therapy it's the same
10:09
Speaker 3: reason people escape by drinking alcohol or drinking doing drugs
10:13
Speaker 3: like you just doing retail therapy that's all yeah Now.
10:17
Speaker 1: You said you're a soldier, right? But people don't actually
10:20
Speaker 1: see what's underneath all of that. Was there a person
10:26
Speaker 1: that you ever showed that side of you?
10:28
Speaker 2: Like, as far as what?
10:30
Speaker 1: Not the soldier. What's underneath the soldier? No, I don't
10:33
Speaker 1: really be doing that.
10:35
Speaker 2: Even for a woman? Nope.
10:38
Speaker 4: Not the way your anthems for the ladies be going.
10:40
Speaker 1: Right.
10:41
Speaker 2: That's how I really feel, though. But that's, like, I don't.
10:46
Speaker 2: I was raised to be a protector and a provider.
10:49
Speaker 2: And my dad was born in 1946. So he was
10:52
Speaker 2: from Mississippi. He went to jail. So I always had
10:56
Speaker 2: a structured life. I had to get up. Even if
10:59
Speaker 2: it's the weekend, I can't sleep past 8 a.m. I
11:01
Speaker 2: got to make my bed. So everything's structured for me.
11:04
Speaker 2: So I don't really know how to be vulnerable with people. Like,
11:08
Speaker 2: I talk to my manager, Rocky, sometimes. And we be
11:11
Speaker 2: talking about what we go through and stuff. But it
11:13
Speaker 2: don't be like break down and cry like, We be
11:16
Speaker 2: trying to see how we gonna push through it. So
11:18
Speaker 2: I don't really just be like, cry me a river.
11:21
Speaker 2: I can't do that. I don't know how.
11:23
Speaker 6: But what about Nas EP'd this album, right?
11:25
Speaker 2: Yeah.
11:26
Speaker 6: So you got Nas EP in the album. I know
11:27
Speaker 6: you close to 50. Like, they've been through some real stuff.
11:30
Speaker 6: And they're also now, I mean, they got success levels
11:33
Speaker 6: that I'm sure you see. You don't, not even with them?
11:36
Speaker 2: We talk about it, but you know what? When we
11:38
Speaker 2: talk about trauma, we laugh. Like, we don't be trying
11:41
Speaker 2: to dwell on it. We be like, yeah, we went
11:43
Speaker 2: through that, but look where we're going. We don't be
11:45
Speaker 2: on some, yeah, we got to dwell on this. It
11:47
Speaker 2: don't be, like, it might feel like a therapy session,
11:51
Speaker 2: but it's like, everything we say is positive. Even when
11:56
Speaker 2: I go through negative stuff, I don't ask God why.
11:59
Speaker 2: I feel like, yeah, my God don't make mistakes. So
12:03
Speaker 2: I feel like, all right, I'm going to push through it.
12:05
Speaker 2: Even when I got shot, I was like, all right,
12:08
Speaker 2: I understand where I come from. I understand my circumstances.
12:11
Speaker 2: I understand where I'm going. And that was yesterday.
12:16
Speaker 3: You got shot last summer, right?
12:19
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
12:21
Speaker 3: I think I read that you got shot three times
12:23
Speaker 3: and they shot at the car like 20-something.
12:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, something like that. Damn.
12:27
Speaker 3: When something like that happens, everybody will be like, yo,
12:29
Speaker 3: you good? But they mean physically. But how did that
12:31
Speaker 3: impact you mentally, like?
12:33
Speaker 2: Mentally, it just put me in a spot where I
12:37
Speaker 2: was dark. I was dark for a minute. And that's
12:41
Speaker 2: when my faith started getting, I tested my faith the most.
12:45
Speaker 2: Because I was dark and I really was going to
12:47
Speaker 2: get myself in trouble. Because I just felt evil. But
12:53
Speaker 2: that's when my faith was tested the most. And I
12:55
Speaker 2: feel like, am I going to be obedient to myself
12:57
Speaker 2: or be obedient to God? and I feel like that
13:00
Speaker 2: was when my faith was tested like one of the
13:02
Speaker 2: times my faith was tested the most because I felt
13:05
Speaker 2: humiliated I felt I felt broken I felt let down
13:15
Speaker 2: I felt like I let myself down all that type
13:17
Speaker 2: of stuff.
13:18
Speaker 3: Why you feel like you let yourself down and why
13:19
Speaker 3: do you feel.
13:20
Speaker 2: Humiliated because I know better oh you mean the way
13:23
Speaker 2: you was moving yeah like I know better but I
13:26
Speaker 2: felt Like, in the moments, like, I'm bigger than the program.
13:30
Speaker 1: Like, you know?
13:31
Speaker 2: And I let myself down because I know it could happen.
13:34
Speaker 2: I know what I be into. I know, like I said,
13:38
Speaker 2: my surroundings, where I come from. And I know better.
13:44
Speaker 2: That's how I let myself down because it's like I
13:48
Speaker 2: almost let my family down. Like, I could have died.
13:50
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? So it's like I almost
13:53
Speaker 2: let my mama down. Like if something happened to me,
13:56
Speaker 2: they lifestyle changes drastically. Like, you know what I'm saying?
13:59
Speaker 2: We everything to each other. So I, even if they
14:03
Speaker 2: lifestyle don't change, I'm almost, my mama take pride and
14:07
Speaker 2: she want to leave before I leave.
14:09
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
14:10
Speaker 2: And if I, if I, if I like F that up,
14:15
Speaker 2: then that's really me letting her down. And that's, that's
14:18
Speaker 2: me letting God down. That's me letting a lot of
14:21
Speaker 2: people down because I feel that life when, but some
14:24
Speaker 2: stuff I could have avoided, you know?
14:26
Speaker 3: Or was it just being at the wrong place, wrong time?
14:28
Speaker 3: Like you didn't have to be there? Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
14:30
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? Like wrong place, wrong time,
14:34
Speaker 2: wrong neighborhoods. You know what I'm saying? Like you just,
14:38
Speaker 2: certain stuff you don't do when you do what I do. Like,
14:40
Speaker 2: and I had to understand that I always be trying
14:42
Speaker 2: to act like I'm a normal person and stuff, but
14:45
Speaker 2: my career is not normal.
14:48
Speaker 3: Unlearning.
14:49
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:49
Speaker 1: Are you on therapy?
14:51
Speaker 2: I don't like therapy.
14:52
Speaker 3: Why?
14:53
Speaker 2: Because she, like, I had a therapist and she act
14:56
Speaker 2: like a robot. And she used to talk to me
15:01
Speaker 2: like she was judging me. Because I come from a
15:04
Speaker 2: certain background and I'm a certain age group. I'm a
15:06
Speaker 2: certain demographic of person. So I feel like she was
15:09
Speaker 2: trying to say, my problems come from that. When my
15:12
Speaker 2: problems was just, okay, somebody hit me.
15:16
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
15:17
Speaker 2: Like, let's say somebody hit me. My problem is somebody
15:20
Speaker 2: hit me. Don't tell me somebody hit me because I'm
15:22
Speaker 2: 27 years old and I'm from the hood.
15:24
Speaker 1: You're stereotyping.
15:25
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? That's what I feel like
15:27
Speaker 2: therapists be doing a lot. So I never found a
15:30
Speaker 2: good one.
15:31
Speaker 3: You know who would be good for you to talk to?
15:32
Speaker 3: A brother named Jason Wilson. He actually from Detroit. He
15:34
Speaker 3: in Detroit right now.
15:35
Speaker 1: For real?
15:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, he do martial arts. He has a, it's called
15:38
Speaker 3: the House of Adelam. I'm probably pronouncing it wrong. But
15:42
Speaker 3: he's just a good brother and he comes from that environment.
15:46
Speaker 3: He'd be a good person for you to talk to.
15:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, somebody else, too, because that's always, like, the strain
15:51
Speaker 1: with therapy, right? Like, especially if you are from a
15:54
Speaker 1: certain environment and you're dealing with traumas and you don't
15:56
Speaker 1: know how to, you know, navigate it. It's always good
15:59
Speaker 1: to talk. You don't really want to talk to somebody
16:00
Speaker 1: who ain't never been through nothing. You don't want to
16:02
Speaker 1: talk to somebody that you feel like going to look
16:03
Speaker 1: at you and you just a number on a roster
16:07
Speaker 1: when you leave. You know what I mean? And so
16:09
Speaker 1: that is important for you to talk to somebody who
16:11
Speaker 1: look like you, who's been through it. who can help
16:13
Speaker 1: you navigate and cope through it.
16:15
Speaker 3: And it's the Keva Adelam. I'm sorry. The Keva Adelam.
16:17
Speaker 3: The Keva Adelam Transformational Training Academy. And that's what he does.
16:22
Speaker 3: One of his things that he focuses on is the
16:24
Speaker 3: trauma-informed care.
16:27
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I feel like a lot of therapies be
16:30
Speaker 2: talking to people like they talking from a book.
16:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, he don't do that. He from Detroit. He don't
16:36
Speaker 3: talk like that.
16:37
Speaker 6: Are you receptive to trying again? Because I saw on
16:39
Speaker 6: Pretty V where you said that your mental health struggles
16:41
Speaker 6: that you're dealing with right now is almost tougher than
16:43
Speaker 6: being shot.
16:45
Speaker 4: Would you do it again?
16:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would try it again. I'm a person that
16:52
Speaker 2: I don't like putting my problems on people. So I
16:55
Speaker 2: don't be wanting people to feel bad for me because
16:57
Speaker 2: I really don't feel bad for me. Like I don't.
17:00
Speaker 2: I told you I am not going to ask God
17:03
Speaker 2: why I went through something or nothing. I'm going to
17:05
Speaker 2: just pass through it. I feel like it's just if
17:07
Speaker 2: it's my time to go through that. I'm going through that.
17:09
Speaker 2: And I'm not a weak person. Like, I don't never
17:11
Speaker 2: have mental health problems where I feel like, oh yeah,
17:13
Speaker 2: today's the day I want to leave.
17:15
Speaker 1: No, I don't.
17:16
Speaker 3: That don't make you weak though. That just make you human.
17:18
Speaker 2: No, but I feel like some people have weaker thought
17:20
Speaker 2: process to where, and I don't judge them for that.
17:23
Speaker 2: I'm just not that type of person. Like, I feel
17:25
Speaker 2: like I was built for anything I'm going through. I
17:28
Speaker 2: feel like I'm going to make it through it. I
17:29
Speaker 2: don't feel like they less of a man for feeling
17:32
Speaker 2: like that way. I feel like They just might have
17:35
Speaker 2: a weaker thought process. Like, I feel like anybody that
17:38
Speaker 2: goes through something and then it gets that bad, you
17:42
Speaker 2: were just, you were weaker mentally, you know? And it's
17:45
Speaker 2: not a problem with that because I have people that's
17:48
Speaker 2: in my family that went through mental health problems and have,
17:51
Speaker 2: there were victims of suicide and stuff like that. I'm
17:54
Speaker 2: just not at that point, you know? And I feel
17:57
Speaker 2: like I'm a little stronger than them.
17:59
Speaker 3: Y'all have all called a week. I would just say
18:01
Speaker 3: that I don't think that they probably got the help
18:03
Speaker 3: they need when they needed it.
18:04
Speaker 2: Flat, flat out. You know what I mean?
18:06
Speaker 3: Flat out. But with all that good sense you got,
18:08
Speaker 3: I read that you went back to the streets after
18:10
Speaker 3: being shot.
18:12
Speaker 2: You read what? Like I went back to the streets
18:13
Speaker 2: and did what?
18:14
Speaker 3: You went back, you just went back out there like
18:16
Speaker 3: days after being shot?
18:17
Speaker 2: But I did a concert.
18:19
Speaker 3: Oh, it was a concert.
18:20
Speaker 4: It was like two days after, right?
18:21
Speaker 1: Oh, okay, okay, okay. But remember, that was reported though.
18:23
Speaker 1: Like he was like, he was on stage like a
18:26
Speaker 1: few days later.
18:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, there was this freestyle too.
18:29
Speaker 5: Freestyle.
18:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, you did the freestyle after where you talked about
18:32
Speaker 4: the shooting.
18:32
Speaker 1: I remember that.
18:33
Speaker 3: Oh, the way it was received to me, I thought
18:34
Speaker 3: you was just out there. Like, you just went out
18:36
Speaker 3: there to show people.
18:36
Speaker 2: Like, I just stood.
18:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, like, not stood, but to show people I ain't scared.
18:39
Speaker 2: No, no.
18:40
Speaker 3: Okay, okay.
18:40
Speaker 2: I'm not slow.
18:41
Speaker 1: Word.
18:45
Speaker 2: I ain't slow.
18:46
Speaker 1: Word.
18:46
Speaker 2: No, I ain't slow.
18:48
Speaker 3: So, it was a concert.
18:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a 4-2-Dub concert. I just came out
18:52
Speaker 2: two days later.
18:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I remember calling you Bob Marley. I was like, oh,
18:56
Speaker 1: this nigga like Bob Marley, because remember after he got shot,
18:58
Speaker 1: that nigga went out there, was performing again, like nothing
19:01
Speaker 1: ever happened, you know, but nothing could keep him down.
19:03
Speaker 3: Why was that important for you to do?
19:05
Speaker 2: Because I feel like I don't want people to feel
19:09
Speaker 2: sorry for me. I don't be on that. Also, I... Like,
19:13
Speaker 2: I hate to keep using this word. I don't like
19:15
Speaker 2: people feeling like I'm weak in this situation. I always
19:19
Speaker 2: want to show. And I got people that's like, little
19:23
Speaker 2: kids look up to me, all type of stuff. So
19:26
Speaker 2: if I'm just sitting in the hospital letting everybody think
19:29
Speaker 2: I'm dead or stuff like that, that's selfish. That's just
19:33
Speaker 2: me trying to have people feel bad and get pity
19:36
Speaker 2: for what? Like, when I can show strength. I can
19:39
Speaker 2: show perseverance. I can show all type of stuff.
19:42
Speaker 1: It's just that people care. People love you.
19:45
Speaker 4: You was in a sling.
19:47
Speaker 1: We were sad up here.
19:49
Speaker 3: You look stronger on Pretty V. Letting everybody know that
19:53
Speaker 3: you dealing with mental health issues right now. Letting everybody
19:57
Speaker 3: know you not feeling your best right now. When I
20:00
Speaker 3: see that, I see a young man with strength.
20:02
Speaker 2: Have you ever been shot?
20:04
Speaker 5: No.
20:04
Speaker 2: God forbid, but if you ever get shot, you're going
20:09
Speaker 2: to understand the emotions that come through your body. It's
20:12
Speaker 2: not just one emotion. You'll be sad. You'll be mad.
20:16
Speaker 2: You'll be happy you made it through it. It's everything
20:20
Speaker 2: rushing at you at once. So if you ever notice
20:23
Speaker 2: somebody that's been shot, either turn them up or put
20:26
Speaker 2: them up. They're either going to go in the house
20:29
Speaker 2: and hide or they're going to do something that's very drastic.
20:33
Speaker 2: and be like, oh yeah, I'm better than that. You
20:36
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying? It be different ways. It might
20:37
Speaker 2: be positive, it might be negative, but either turn you
20:40
Speaker 2: down or turn you up every time. If you ask
20:43
Speaker 2: anybody that ever been shot, they'll tell you that.
20:45
Speaker 3: What'd you think it did for you?
20:47
Speaker 2: I feel like it turned me up in a negative way,
20:50
Speaker 2: then a positive way. Got you, got you. It tested
20:53
Speaker 2: my strength, and not physically, spiritually, emotionally. My emotions was
21:00
Speaker 2: higher than ever. I've been shot on two different occasions.
21:03
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
21:04
Speaker 2: First time, it made me more of a gangster, but
21:06
Speaker 2: I was 23 years old. Second time, it just made
21:10
Speaker 2: me reflect on life.
21:13
Speaker 5: Why?
21:13
Speaker 2: What's my purpose? Am I supposed to be a leader?
21:17
Speaker 2: Am I supposed to be here? You know what I'm saying?
21:19
Speaker 2: It just made me reflect on different things that I
21:22
Speaker 2: was going through, because getting shot wasn't a problem. It
21:25
Speaker 2: was getting shot at a time where I felt like
21:28
Speaker 2: I wasn't in the right space in my career. I
21:32
Speaker 2: was going through it with females. I was going through
21:34
Speaker 2: it with family. So all these emotions was going through
21:38
Speaker 2: me at once. And it wasn't even about getting shot.
21:40
Speaker 2: It was like, man, this is the worst time I
21:41
Speaker 2: could ever get shot. I had just took a loss.
21:45
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? So it was like, I
21:47
Speaker 2: lost money, family, friends, and got shot. Now I'm feeling
21:52
Speaker 2: humiliated because now I feel like everybody that went against me,
21:56
Speaker 2: they happy I got shot for real. You know what
21:58
Speaker 2: I'm saying? Like everybody could say they wasn't, but it's like, Oh, yeah,
22:01
Speaker 2: that's what he get. You know what I'm saying? It's
22:03
Speaker 2: a moment like that. So all them emotions going through
22:07
Speaker 2: it at one time, and then you be like, I
22:10
Speaker 2: want to do something to somebody. But then it be like,
22:12
Speaker 2: am I going to obey God?
22:14
Speaker 3: Do you remember that moment you heard God speak to
22:16
Speaker 3: you when he tapped you on that shoulder? Do you
22:17
Speaker 3: remember exactly what that felt like?
22:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I used to. Me and him, we used to.
22:26
Speaker 2: This is how I really made it through it. Like,
22:28
Speaker 2: I was in a dark moment. I ain't going to
22:30
Speaker 2: say everything I was doing in this dark moment. But
22:33
Speaker 2: one day, like, because he's going to support whatever I
22:36
Speaker 2: want to do for real. He's really going to support me.
22:38
Speaker 2: Whatever I want to do, he's going to. Even if
22:40
Speaker 2: he thinks it's wrong, he's going to provide me with support.
22:44
Speaker 2: But we was talking on the phone, and he was like,
22:48
Speaker 2: I just had told him, like, I'm going to just
22:50
Speaker 2: go to the gym. Then when I went to the gym,
22:53
Speaker 2: I just was locked in, like, I go three times
22:56
Speaker 2: a day. I'm doing 400 push-ups, 200 pull-ups. Everything changed
23:01
Speaker 2: my diet. I think that was the moment when I
23:03
Speaker 2: changed my diet. I went on a fast. No sex.
23:07
Speaker 2: It was from last November because I had just gotten
23:11
Speaker 2: done having surgery a couple months before that, and I
23:13
Speaker 2: really couldn't move my hand. Last November to last, like
23:18
Speaker 2: the middle of January, I did no bread, no sugar,
23:23
Speaker 2: no sex. And drunk all water. And I went to
23:27
Speaker 2: the gym like two or three times a day. And
23:30
Speaker 2: it made me feel better than ever.
23:32
Speaker 3: You was clear.
23:33
Speaker 2: And I was praying in the sauna. Like, every day
23:35
Speaker 2: I'd turn on a gospel song and pray in the sauna.
23:39
Speaker 2: That's what really helped me.
23:40
Speaker 3: You was clear. And God gave you direct order.
23:44
Speaker 2: I stopped hurting. Not physically. Like, mentally, I just stopped hurting. Like,
23:49
Speaker 2: I let all the hurt go. And I used... I
23:53
Speaker 2: remember the moment when I stopped hurting, I started praying
23:55
Speaker 2: for my enemies.
23:59
Speaker 3: That's powerful, man, because, you know, I always say hurt
24:01
Speaker 3: people hurt people. So when you stopped hurting, you didn't
24:03
Speaker 3: even want to hurt nobody.
24:05
Speaker 1: So how often do you do that? Because if that's
24:08
Speaker 1: the best you've ever felt, you should do it more.
24:11
Speaker 1: You should do it quarterly. You should do it, you know,
24:13
Speaker 1: because you seem like you're more at peace. Well, that,
24:17
Speaker 1: you know, from your testimony just now, that puts you
24:20
Speaker 1: at peace. You started praying for your enemies. That's a
24:23
Speaker 1: different type of faith. You know what I mean? Like,
24:26
Speaker 1: that's different. That's so different. And that even speaks to me.
24:30
Speaker 1: That's amazing. When the last time you did that?
24:33
Speaker 2: Like, going my fast?
24:34
Speaker 1: Yeah.
24:36
Speaker 2: I keep telling him I'm going to go back. I
24:38
Speaker 2: really need him to help me.
24:39
Speaker 3: But.
24:40
Speaker 1: Help him? What are you doing back there smiling?
24:42
Speaker 4: What are you supposed to do?
24:43
Speaker 2: We did it together.
24:45
Speaker 1: We did it together. I ain't going to keep not
24:47
Speaker 1: getting no cheeks, bro.
24:49
Speaker 3: He's like, man, goddamn cheeks.
24:53
Speaker 2: He really told me what to do, though. He told
24:56
Speaker 2: me to walk fast. He ain't telling me don't have
24:59
Speaker 2: sex and stuff. He told me about the bread and
25:02
Speaker 2: the sugar. We started putting a workout program together. You know, so.
25:08
Speaker 2: we was doing it together. So I feel like once
25:11
Speaker 2: we start doing it together again, I'll probably do it again.
25:14
Speaker 3: I love this conversation, man. Especially what you said about,
25:16
Speaker 3: you know, how you had to remove yourself from that
25:19
Speaker 3: environment because of how you might respond.
25:22
Speaker 1: Right?
25:22
Speaker 3: Like, when did you realize sometimes maturity means removing yourself
25:27
Speaker 3: instead of proving you can survive somewhere?
25:30
Speaker 2: I didn't really move my, remove myself purposely. I had, like, had,
25:35
Speaker 2: I was going through, I had a house, on the
25:38
Speaker 2: West Coast in a house in Michigan. And when I
25:42
Speaker 2: had got shot, I didn't want to have surgery in Michigan.
25:46
Speaker 2: As soon as I got shot, everybody knew what hospital
25:48
Speaker 2: I was at. They violated all my HIPAA laws. I
25:51
Speaker 2: really could have sued them, but I didn't really want
25:53
Speaker 2: to go through that. But everybody knew where I was at,
25:57
Speaker 2: all that. And then they left me on the table
25:59
Speaker 2: bleeding for two hours. I was just mad. That whole
26:02
Speaker 2: hospital experience was terrible.
26:05
Speaker 3: For sure. Because they're used to that. They're used to
26:07
Speaker 3: seeing black men come in there and shout out. They
26:09
Speaker 3: don't really care.
26:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, they ain't really care about me. So I flew
26:12
Speaker 2: to Arizona and had surgery and all that. And it
26:17
Speaker 2: went well and stuff. And I started noticing how happy
26:21
Speaker 2: I was and how clean it was and how people.
26:25
Speaker 2: I used to be on the West Coast and be like,
26:28
Speaker 2: why is people being nice to me? Like, what they
26:30
Speaker 2: up to? They really nice people.
26:31
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
26:32
Speaker 2: And I was like, dang, I'd just rather be around
26:35
Speaker 2: this type of environment because I don't have to be
26:38
Speaker 2: defensive all the time. At first I was. I was like, man,
26:41
Speaker 2: why is you talking to me? I'm talking to you.
26:44
Speaker 2: I don't want to talk to you. But then I
26:46
Speaker 2: started noticing, like, everybody nice. And they don't need nothing
26:49
Speaker 2: from half of them rich kids and stuff like that.
26:53
Speaker 1: Like, all right, boom.
26:54
Speaker 2: I need to stay away from that. And when I
26:57
Speaker 2: go back now, it's like, people be happy to see me.
27:00
Speaker 2: Even though people always happy to see Skilla, baby, it
27:02
Speaker 2: just be like, it's like, I haven't seen you in
27:05
Speaker 2: so long.
27:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, they miss you. You know what I'm saying? And
27:07
Speaker 1: it's like, they had time where they didn't see you.
27:09
Speaker 1: So it's like, oh my God. No, you know, it's
27:11
Speaker 1: nothing but positivity. Cause they, you took a long time off.
27:14
Speaker 1: You taking hiatuses from the city.
27:17
Speaker 2: I used to have like moments where my phone wouldn't
27:19
Speaker 2: ring above nothing but negative stuff. Like real bad stuff.
27:23
Speaker 3: This person got killed. This person in jail.
27:25
Speaker 1: Swear.
27:25
Speaker 3: All right.
27:27
Speaker 2: People around me can attest to that. Like, my phone
27:30
Speaker 2: we used to be like, you know what I'm saying?
27:32
Speaker 2: And it's like, even stuff that I didn't have nothing
27:35
Speaker 2: to do with. And I'm like, yeah, this crazy. Like,
27:39
Speaker 2: there's like a dark cloud over me. I can't keep
27:42
Speaker 2: doing this. That was one of the most depressing times, too.
27:46
Speaker 2: And it's fun, but it's depressing, too, because it's like
27:49
Speaker 2: all the weight drop on you. Like, everything. Like, when
27:53
Speaker 2: I first got shot, like, everything that happened that was gangster,
27:58
Speaker 2: they would call me like I had something to do
28:00
Speaker 2: with it. And then it made a lot of my
28:02
Speaker 2: friends scared of me and stuff like that. And I
28:04
Speaker 2: ain't want that because I'm not that type of person.
28:07
Speaker 2: I don't, I love saying this on interviews and out
28:11
Speaker 2: loud because I want people to know and I want
28:13
Speaker 2: kids to know. I don't wake up wanting to hurt nobody.
28:16
Speaker 2: I don't want nobody to pass away, nothing. I don't,
28:19
Speaker 2: that's not my thing. I want to protect me and
28:21
Speaker 2: my family. But, I'm going to protect me and my family,
28:24
Speaker 2: but I don't wake up wanting people to die. I
28:27
Speaker 2: would think that would be a lonely life. Everybody died
28:29
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. I think that would be so lonely.
28:32
Speaker 2: So I don't wish that on nobody.
28:34
Speaker 4: It's crazy though, right?
28:35
Speaker 6: Because you have all that happening, the dark cloud and
28:38
Speaker 6: just trying to get through where you're from.
28:41
Speaker 4: But at the same time, you do so much.
28:43
Speaker 6: In your community and have been literally ever since I
28:45
Speaker 6: ever knew who you were. Is there like a fight sometimes,
28:48
Speaker 6: especially because of, you know, getting shot where you're from?
28:51
Speaker 6: where you're like, I want to keep doing all this,
28:53
Speaker 6: but at the same time, it's like that means going back,
28:55
Speaker 6: and you're hypersensitive to, like, the areas you got to
28:58
Speaker 6: go into. And, like, what's that meant to battle? Or
29:00
Speaker 6: is there even one at this point?
29:01
Speaker 2: No, I never stopped. Even when I got shot, I
29:04
Speaker 2: still went back and did some stuff. I went back
29:06
Speaker 2: a few weeks later and helped the mayor. I was
29:11
Speaker 2: part of her campaign.
29:12
Speaker 4: The Occupy Summer?
29:13
Speaker 3: Yeah.
29:13
Speaker 4: Occupy the Summer.
29:14
Speaker 2: Like, I do Occupy the Summers, but I also, I
29:17
Speaker 2: get outside and I, I do stuff on my own.
29:20
Speaker 2: I provided houses for less fortunate families. Gave them some
29:24
Speaker 2: of my houses. That's amazing. I didn't bless girls go
29:28
Speaker 2: to college. I do a lot of stuff. I don't
29:29
Speaker 2: like it being recorded. I don't do it for that.
29:33
Speaker 2: They want me to make a nonprofit. I still haven't
29:35
Speaker 2: because I don't do it for that either. But I
29:39
Speaker 2: ain't going to never stop doing stuff for my community
29:41
Speaker 2: because they blessed me. They poured into me growing up.
29:46
Speaker 2: So I feel like if I took all this, I
29:48
Speaker 2: took the swag, I took the money, I took all that,
29:53
Speaker 2: I still got to pour back into my community, regardless
29:55
Speaker 2: of what happens. Because I told you I'm not going
29:57
Speaker 2: to ask God why. I'm just going to do it.
29:59
Speaker 2: And I don't do it to be blessed back or anything.
30:03
Speaker 1: I do think you should think about the nonprofit because
30:07
Speaker 1: I know you're doing it out of your own pocket,
30:09
Speaker 1: but that's how you get funding, and it can grow.
30:11
Speaker 1: It can expand, and you can help a lot more.
30:13
Speaker 1: And then it's legitimate. You know what I mean? I
30:16
Speaker 1: know you know that, but I'm just saying it's certain...
30:19
Speaker 1: Certain contracts you can get with. Then you can work
30:22
Speaker 1: with local council, all of that, to just make what
30:27
Speaker 1: you're doing bigger and grow it so it can be
30:31
Speaker 1: just bigger and just help more of Detroit.
30:33
Speaker 2: Definitely.
30:34
Speaker 3: I'm going to go back to something Lauren said. How
30:36
Speaker 3: difficult is it for a young black man to understand
30:39
Speaker 3: that leaving the neighborhood doesn't mean abandoning it, abandoning the neighborhood?
30:44
Speaker 2: It's very difficult. It's very difficult because everybody try to
30:48
Speaker 2: pull you into that. They try to make it seem
30:53
Speaker 2: like if you're not there, you don't care. But also
30:57
Speaker 2: they don't understand that it's a certain level of protection
31:02
Speaker 2: you don't get. Because if I come to a neighborhood
31:07
Speaker 2: and something, like some people don't do all illegal stuff
31:10
Speaker 2: in my neighborhood. So if I come through there, I'm
31:14
Speaker 2: making it hot. I'm making everything. I'm shedding light on
31:19
Speaker 2: the neighborhood, but I'm also providing the light to stuff
31:22
Speaker 2: that's not supposed to be going on, too, that's going
31:25
Speaker 2: to happen in the neighborhood, whether I help it or not,
31:27
Speaker 2: because it's just what comes with the neighborhood. I feel
31:31
Speaker 2: like it's also fun, too, being in the neighborhood. That's
31:39
Speaker 2: why I like Round Man now, because it's not fun.
31:44
Speaker 3: It's not fun?
31:45
Speaker 1: Not the type of fun that he's used to.
31:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, you said that about four times in an interview,
31:48
Speaker 3: how fun it is. Like, what's so fun about it?
31:50
Speaker 2: About the neighborhood?
31:51
Speaker 3: I think it's the sense of community that you like.
31:54
Speaker 2: I like the sense of community, but also, like, when
31:57
Speaker 2: you born into some gangsta stuff, that's fun to you.
32:00
Speaker 2: It's the adrenaline rush. It's just like going on a
32:02
Speaker 2: roller coaster. I don't ride roller coasters. And I tell people, like,
32:06
Speaker 2: I've been shot enough times, I don't need to jump
32:07
Speaker 2: out a plane or do nothing. Like, you know what
32:09
Speaker 2: I'm saying? I've been shot at doing it.
32:11
Speaker 3: Like, it's fun.
32:12
Speaker 2: It's fun when you make it through it. Like, it's
32:14
Speaker 2: not fun getting shot. But if you ever been on
32:17
Speaker 2: a shootout or something like that, it's the same adrenaline
32:20
Speaker 2: rush you get from jumping out a plane or going
32:22
Speaker 2: on a roller coaster when it drop.
32:24
Speaker 1: It's the thrill.
32:25
Speaker 2: It's the thrill of it.
32:26
Speaker 1: It's the excitement, yeah.
32:27
Speaker 2: You ever notice all the little kids, when they don't
32:30
Speaker 2: get shot, they on the internet talk about how they
32:32
Speaker 2: made it and stuff like that, and they laughing because
32:34
Speaker 2: it's the adrenaline rush of all that. And it's not fun.
32:40
Speaker 2: Don't get me wrong, but when you're in it and
32:43
Speaker 2: you can't make it out of it, this the fun
32:45
Speaker 2: that you having. It's just like this. We got systematic
32:50
Speaker 2: rules in our own community. And a lot of people
32:55
Speaker 2: might not agree with me, but it's like as black men,
32:58
Speaker 2: when you grow up, they tell you you lame if
33:00
Speaker 2: you don't have hoes. You know what I'm saying?
33:02
Speaker 3: That's a fact.
33:03
Speaker 2: But once you get older, they want you to remove
33:05
Speaker 2: the hoes and get married. You know what I'm saying?
33:07
Speaker 3: That's right.
33:08
Speaker 2: But you're training me. It's just like racism. It's learned behavior.
33:12
Speaker 3: Yeah.
33:13
Speaker 2: So if I learned this growing up to have all
33:17
Speaker 2: these girls and all the girls like me because I
33:18
Speaker 2: got girls, by the time I get older, you want
33:21
Speaker 2: me to stop it and I'm already trained this way.
33:24
Speaker 3: Bro, you know, I lied to him one time when
33:25
Speaker 3: I confronted my pops about cheating on my mom. This
33:27
Speaker 3: was way, way back in the day. He looked me
33:29
Speaker 3: dead in the eye and he goes, you only got
33:31
Speaker 3: one girlfriend? He goes, one day you're going to understand.
33:35
Speaker 3: I said, damn. I thought I was doing something wrong
33:38
Speaker 3: by having, you know, one girlfriend. Same woman I'm married
33:40
Speaker 3: to now. But, yeah, you're absolutely right. It's a learned behavior.
33:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's just like racism. Like, racism is learned behavior.
33:47
Speaker 2: You don't just, like, they don't just teach, you don't
33:51
Speaker 2: just wake up and be like, this color is wrong
33:53
Speaker 2: or this color is wrong. You see it, you hear it,
33:56
Speaker 2: and now it's like, all right, when I grow up,
33:58
Speaker 2: I'm going to have hoes. You know what I'm saying?
34:01
Speaker 2: So it's kind of difficult, even with the gangster stuff.
34:03
Speaker 2: It's like, man, if a nigga punch you, You know
34:07
Speaker 2: what I'm saying?
34:08
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
34:08
Speaker 2: And by the time you get older, you learn it's wrong.
34:11
Speaker 3: But that's different, though. Somebody punch you, that's just self-defense. Like,
34:14
Speaker 3: you can defend yourself.
34:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, but where I come from, if somebody punch you,
34:17
Speaker 2: you shoot them.
34:18
Speaker 3: Yeah.
34:18
Speaker 1: Jesus.
34:19
Speaker 3: Yeah. Let me tell you something, man. Grand Theft Auto
34:21
Speaker 3: comes out November 19th, right? You should just buy a
34:23
Speaker 3: bunch of them and give them to all them kids,
34:25
Speaker 3: and you should stay at home and play it as well.
34:27
Speaker 3: You don't have to go out on the street and
34:28
Speaker 3: do it for real.
34:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's another learned behavior.
34:32
Speaker 1: Oh, my God.
34:33
Speaker 2: Damn.
34:33
Speaker 1: You're trying to get them pumped up to go out.
34:35
Speaker 2: No, it's another learned behavior, though.
34:36
Speaker 1: And ride it done.
34:37
Speaker 2: Because you got to think, like, a lot of these kids,
34:39
Speaker 2: they don't know the consequences because they play a Grand
34:42
Speaker 2: Theft Auto. And every time they die, they get another life. Damn.
34:46
Speaker 1: You can do anything. You ain't never die on... Grand
34:50
Speaker 1: Theft Auto?
34:50
Speaker 3: Yes, but I know that's a video game, but what
34:52
Speaker 3: he's saying is so true. These kids don't understand the
34:55
Speaker 3: consequences of their actions. They don't understand what 30 years
34:58
Speaker 3: or 40, 50 years in prison mean. They don't understand
35:01
Speaker 3: what it means when you're actually dead.
35:02
Speaker 2: They was fighting on Grand Theft Auto and they don't
35:04
Speaker 2: really understand when you get in prison, you really got
35:07
Speaker 2: to fight and they really got knives and dying is permanent.
35:11
Speaker 4: When did that click for you though?
35:12
Speaker 6: Because like, all right, I'm going to go back to
35:14
Speaker 6: the freestyle that you released after everything happened. You thanked
35:17
Speaker 6: everybody for the love and support, but at the same time,
35:19
Speaker 6: it was kind of like, given where like you were
35:21
Speaker 6: trying to decide how you should react because of what
35:23
Speaker 6: you come from and what you used to and the
35:25
Speaker 6: whole retaliation or whatever and where you know you should
35:28
Speaker 6: be like talking to God and just leaving it alone
35:31
Speaker 6: so like it's like you battle with that like to
35:33
Speaker 6: this day still what clicked for you and when where
35:37
Speaker 6: you were like like that's not real life I can't
35:39
Speaker 6: really live my life like that.
35:41
Speaker 2: I was talking to Pastor Warren Campbell that's Erica Campbell's.
35:46
Speaker 4: Husband okay she's on the album too yep.
35:48
Speaker 2: Warren Campbell produced on the album, too. He did a
35:51
Speaker 2: lot of Tupac. He did Mario Records. He did a
35:56
Speaker 2: lot of Mary Mary Records. He does a lot of stuff,
35:58
Speaker 2: but he was telling me, I'm not fighting. Because I
36:02
Speaker 2: really kept it real with him. I was like, I
36:04
Speaker 2: want to do this. I feel like this. And he
36:06
Speaker 2: was like, you might not be fighting right and wrong.
36:09
Speaker 2: You might be fighting right and wise. So everything you
36:11
Speaker 2: want to do, you might be right for doing it.
36:13
Speaker 2: But is it the wise decision? He said that it clicked.
36:18
Speaker 2: And I'm like, dang, he right. I might feel evil
36:22
Speaker 2: in this moment, but is it conducive to my situation?
36:26
Speaker 2: Is it conducive to Skilla Baby? Is it conducive to
36:29
Speaker 2: my mama? Is it conducive to my sister? Am I
36:32
Speaker 2: being selfish to my management? You know what I'm saying? People,
36:36
Speaker 2: my employees, if I go away, if I do this,
36:39
Speaker 2: if I set myself up, even if I don't make
36:41
Speaker 2: it out of a situation, a lot of people lost jobs.
36:46
Speaker 2: Might lose houses, might lose, you know what I'm saying?
36:48
Speaker 2: So it was like, I can't be selfish in those moments. Also,
36:52
Speaker 2: I'm in my obedience phase of my life. So it's like,
36:55
Speaker 2: if a pastor told me this and I felt like
36:57
Speaker 2: he wasn't judging me when he said it, he really
37:00
Speaker 2: told me I could be right. But I could, I could,
37:03
Speaker 2: he said, why? So he didn't really tell me, like,
37:06
Speaker 2: don't do that. He was like, just think about it.
37:09
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? So I took a step
37:11
Speaker 2: back and I had to reevaluate everything.
37:14
Speaker 3: After surviving everything, you survived, right? You know, including gun violence.
37:18
Speaker 3: Has your philanthropy started to feel different? Because I see
37:21
Speaker 3: you give away houses. I see you support, you know, students.
37:24
Speaker 3: You put, what, $ 50, 000 for the gun back? Yeah, so
37:28
Speaker 3: does philanthropy feel different after all that?
37:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just did a mental health podcast. I mean,
37:32
Speaker 2: not a podcast, but a panel in my city. I
37:35
Speaker 2: partnered with the mayor, the deputy mayor, the chief of police,
37:41
Speaker 2: some other... activists and programs that help with mental health.
37:46
Speaker 2: So I feel like with that, I want to see,
37:49
Speaker 2: because I'll still be battling, like, I'll be feeling down
37:53
Speaker 2: and stuff, but I want to see how people cope
37:56
Speaker 2: in different ways to see am I doing it wrong
37:59
Speaker 2: or other ways I can deal with my stuff. Also,
38:02
Speaker 2: I wanted to bridge a gap between community and police,
38:07
Speaker 2: like over-policing. I think, like, a lot of kids... And
38:12
Speaker 2: a lot of people in the community, the disconnection with
38:16
Speaker 2: police officers and city officials is we really don't know them.
38:20
Speaker 2: So you be scared. You fear the unknown. So I
38:23
Speaker 2: feel like if they see me shaking their hand, then
38:28
Speaker 2: it'll look cool because somebody they cool with. Because I
38:31
Speaker 2: don't got to snitch on nobody. I'm not telling on nobody.
38:34
Speaker 2: And I can do gun buybacks and still help y'all,
38:37
Speaker 2: but I'm not helping y'all do y'all a job. But also...
38:41
Speaker 2: I feel like a lot of police are there to help.
38:44
Speaker 2: And I feel like the disconnection between them and us
38:48
Speaker 2: is we don't know each other. So if you see,
38:52
Speaker 2: if I see an officer in my neighborhood as a
38:55
Speaker 2: kid and these systematic beliefs and these learned behaviors, I
39:01
Speaker 2: see my uncle or my pops or whatever telling the
39:04
Speaker 2: police get the fuck on. Then I'm going to feel
39:07
Speaker 2: like that. But also, if I know If I know
39:12
Speaker 2: the police and I feel like it's my cousin or
39:16
Speaker 2: my friend, then he's trying to provide ways to help
39:19
Speaker 2: me out of these situations instead of judging me. Even
39:21
Speaker 2: with the police, knowing the neighborhood. it's like the police
39:25
Speaker 2: that really be in the neighborhood that's chilling with everybody
39:28
Speaker 2: and they be cool. Like they help you through it.
39:32
Speaker 2: It's be the people that we don't know that we automatically,
39:35
Speaker 2: we got this stigma about them, this thing on both sides,
39:38
Speaker 2: you know? So I feel like if we like bridge
39:40
Speaker 2: that gap and It'll be less over-policing, and then there'll
39:44
Speaker 2: be less fear in the neighborhoods, too.
39:46
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right. That's so true. I'm from Baltimore City,
39:48
Speaker 1: and I remember growing up, it used to be cops
39:50
Speaker 1: that walked around the neighborhood just to make sure everybody
39:53
Speaker 1: could not dare to bust nobody, lock nobody up, harass nobody,
39:57
Speaker 1: fuck with nobody, nothing. They would just walk the hoods,
40:01
Speaker 1: the craziest hoods. They would speak to the drug dealers
40:03
Speaker 1: and all that, and just keep going, not harass them. Now,
40:06
Speaker 1: the drug dealers, they was doing bad shit, but they
40:08
Speaker 1: still had a level of respect where it's like, nah.
40:12
Speaker 1: I never heard, fuck the police coming up in Baltimore City.
40:16
Speaker 1: It was a sense of community. Like you said, you
40:19
Speaker 1: know the police, you know the cop. When you address
40:21
Speaker 1: them by name, oh, officer such and such or whatever,
40:23
Speaker 1: they were just trying to make sure the community was
40:25
Speaker 1: safe for the kids because we were outside playing in
40:27
Speaker 1: the midst of all of this drug selling. So yeah,
40:31
Speaker 1: that's good that you want to bridge that gap because
40:33
Speaker 1: we don't have that no more. It's different. And then Also,
40:37
Speaker 1: to second what you said, how is it always, fuck
40:42
Speaker 1: the police when they're there to protect us? Because if
40:46
Speaker 1: something happens to you, first thing you call, who you call?
40:48
Speaker 1: Who your family going to call? The police. But if it's,
40:51
Speaker 1: but if, if the kids, we have put this stigma
40:55
Speaker 1: out there, like, don't trust them. They don't love us.
40:58
Speaker 1: They don't, they all, fuck all cops. Like, they hate us.
41:01
Speaker 1: then it's like, who are we going to call when
41:03
Speaker 1: something happens to mama?
41:04
Speaker 3: You can't even trust them when you call them sometimes.
41:07
Speaker 6: As I said, it gets hard sometimes, though, depending on
41:09
Speaker 6: how you grow up. I know with me, I grew
41:12
Speaker 6: up with my little brother. My mom would literally go
41:15
Speaker 6: down to the police station and would fight when he
41:16
Speaker 6: would get the resistant arrest. If he got beat up
41:19
Speaker 6: by the cops, she would fight. So, desk tickets, all
41:21
Speaker 6: that would get thrown out. So, I grew up knowing, like, yo,
41:24
Speaker 6: this happens. And then when it started to go viral,
41:26
Speaker 6: when people were seeing it on their camera phones and stuff,
41:28
Speaker 6: it was like, oh my God, I can't believe this
41:29
Speaker 6: is happening.
41:30
Speaker 1: I was like.
41:30
Speaker 4: That's normal. That happens all the time.
41:32
Speaker 6: So you have this love-hate thing with cops because they
41:34
Speaker 6: had cops in our high schools and.
41:36
Speaker 4: You would know them. They would ride around. They would
41:37
Speaker 4: know you by name.
41:38
Speaker 6: But you also had the cops that would trash your phone,
41:42
Speaker 6: would beat your brothers up. It's just like a weird...
41:46
Speaker 6: We've never found a little happy place with the cops
41:48
Speaker 6: because you just don't know what you're getting when you
41:50
Speaker 6: call them.
41:51
Speaker 2: But also, we got to... I think in our neighborhoods,
41:55
Speaker 2: we're a little delusional when it comes to that because...
41:59
Speaker 2: A lot of times we be doing stuff that's wrong.
42:05
Speaker 2: Even if you don't feel like it's morally wrong, it's
42:07
Speaker 2: against the law. And I think a lot of kids,
42:11
Speaker 2: like one thing my pops taught me growing up, you
42:13
Speaker 2: got to know your laws. A lot of people don't
42:16
Speaker 2: know the law or they ignore the law. And really
42:20
Speaker 2: their job is to defend the law. You know what
42:23
Speaker 2: I'm saying? So if you getting arrested and you broke
42:25
Speaker 2: the law, bro, you can't really... You can be mad
42:28
Speaker 2: at yourself. You can't really be mad at the police.
42:31
Speaker 3: You're doing your job.
42:32
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? A lot of times we
42:34
Speaker 2: be trying to make that excuse like, yeah, they over-policing,
42:37
Speaker 2: but dog just broke the law. You know what I'm saying?
42:39
Speaker 2: And I'm from the streets, so I haven't been a
42:43
Speaker 2: law-abiding citizen my whole life. You know what I'm saying?
42:45
Speaker 2: So it's like I understand it, but we got to
42:49
Speaker 2: stop putting this stigma out there that every time somebody
42:54
Speaker 2: get arrested, they didn't break the law. You got caught.
42:57
Speaker 2: That's not our fault. It's not their fault you got caught.
43:00
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? Now, over-policing, I don't support
43:03
Speaker 2: that at all. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? I'm
43:07
Speaker 2: never helping the police do their job at all. I
43:10
Speaker 2: don't get paid to do that. But we do have
43:13
Speaker 2: police for a reason. You know what I'm saying? And
43:15
Speaker 2: it's like, we can't. Every time somebody get their felon
43:19
Speaker 2: and they get caught with a gun, like, oh my God,
43:21
Speaker 2: they bothering me. No, you got a gun, gang.
43:23
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
43:23
Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
43:24
Speaker 1: Like that's, oh my God, especially with somebody, mother, they
43:27
Speaker 1: see their kid getting harassed by, you know, like just
43:30
Speaker 1: getting beat up by the police. Oh my God, stop,
43:32
Speaker 1: he ain't do nothing. No, this is little Michael Myers, baby. Like,
43:35
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? He done killed a hell
43:36
Speaker 1: of people.
43:37
Speaker 3: That is true. But also if they invested in our
43:39
Speaker 3: communities the way they invested in police, things would also
43:43
Speaker 3: change as well. There wouldn't be the need for over-policing
43:46
Speaker 3: because You know, these kids would have the mental health
43:49
Speaker 3: resources that they need, and these kids would have after-school programs. Like,
43:52
Speaker 3: you got to give these kids something to do. They
43:55
Speaker 3: say our idle mind is the devil's playground. That's why
43:57
Speaker 3: they turn to a life of crime often, because they
43:59
Speaker 3: don't have any other resources, and they trying to make
44:02
Speaker 3: ends meet, and they don't have nothing else to do.
44:04
Speaker 3: Give these kids something else to do.
44:05
Speaker 2: Also, it's parenting, though.
44:07
Speaker 1: Yeah.
44:07
Speaker 2: Parenting is where it starts. Like, I can't care more
44:11
Speaker 2: about your kids than you do. You know? Even simple stuff.
44:16
Speaker 2: I was talking to somebody about their kids the other
44:19
Speaker 2: day and it's like, all right, you got two options.
44:22
Speaker 2: You can show to your kids and they'll be a
44:24
Speaker 2: little bit more soft or you can place them in
44:27
Speaker 2: an environment that's not conducive to them being, um, not arrested.
44:33
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
44:34
Speaker 2: I think a lot of times as parents, even people
44:37
Speaker 2: think just doing stuff for your kids that make you
44:40
Speaker 2: a good parent. No, you gotta, you gotta, um, provide
44:45
Speaker 2: the resources for them to understand what consequences is, what
44:51
Speaker 2: this could lead to, you know? And I think that
44:54
Speaker 2: people do that a lot in our community, you know?
44:58
Speaker 1: Spend time with your kids. Like, you gotta be around
45:00
Speaker 1: them too.
45:01
Speaker 3: That's why the Beyond Scared Scrape programs and shit used
45:03
Speaker 3: to work so well. Like, they used to be, they
45:05
Speaker 3: used to show us the consequences of these actions. They
45:09
Speaker 3: wouldn't just show us people getting killed, people going to prison.
45:13
Speaker 3: They'll be like, this is why this happened, and this
45:15
Speaker 3: is what happens when that happens, and this is where
45:17
Speaker 3: you're going to spend the rest of your life.
45:19
Speaker 2: But you shouldn't have to go through that. I've never
45:25
Speaker 2: been arrested in my neighborhood. I've never got caught with
45:28
Speaker 2: a gun. I don't disrespect my elders. I don't disrespect
45:32
Speaker 2: people because I learned that growing up. My pops taught
45:37
Speaker 2: me that. This is what I was taught. I was
45:39
Speaker 2: raised that way. So if you raise your kids a
45:41
Speaker 2: certain way, I'm firm believer that that's how they be,
45:44
Speaker 2: is learn behavior. So if they see this growing up,
45:48
Speaker 2: that's what they're going to do. If you let your
45:51
Speaker 2: kid go outside with the wolves, they're going to be
45:53
Speaker 2: a wolf. This is just what it is.
45:55
Speaker 3: What do you think about this? Hip-hop will reward you
45:58
Speaker 3: for talking about violence. Then you become successful, and now
46:02
Speaker 3: you're spending your money to try to stop violence. Have
46:04
Speaker 3: you ever wrestled with that?
46:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like I was a hypocrite at certain times.
46:11
Speaker 2: But also... I feel like, because I was on set
46:18
Speaker 2: of a movie one time, and I ain't going to
46:20
Speaker 2: say what set it was. One of the white ADs
46:25
Speaker 2: or something was on there and was like, they ain't
46:29
Speaker 2: know me like that. Then they started listening to my
46:31
Speaker 2: music because they like how I act. The lady told me,
46:34
Speaker 2: so are you going to stop objectifying women?
46:37
Speaker 3: Damn.
46:39
Speaker 2: And I was like, No, bitch. Look, I had to
46:49
Speaker 2: tell her. You whining, you doing a movie about gangbanging.
46:53
Speaker 2: So you objectifying my neighborhood.
46:55
Speaker 3: That's real.
46:56
Speaker 4: What'd she say back to that?
46:57
Speaker 1: That's real.
46:58
Speaker 2: She ain't say nothing because I walked off. But I just,
47:03
Speaker 2: I think every story has a place to be told.
47:07
Speaker 2: And what you get from it is what you get
47:10
Speaker 2: from it. I'm not telling nobody to go shoot nobody
47:13
Speaker 2: or do nothing. I'm telling my story. And I feel
47:16
Speaker 2: like that's what art is. You tell a story. You
47:18
Speaker 2: know what people get from it, they get from it.
47:21
Speaker 2: It's on your parents to raise you the right way.
47:23
Speaker 2: And don't follow my raps or what I'm doing to
47:27
Speaker 2: be successful in my career and think I did everything
47:31
Speaker 2: this way.
47:33
Speaker 3: No.
47:34
Speaker 2: This is entertainment. I'm here to entertain. You know what
47:37
Speaker 2: I'm saying? I'm not here to say, I'm not one
47:40
Speaker 2: of the rappers that's like, all right, you got to
47:42
Speaker 2: be a reality rapper. No, you don't. You got to
47:45
Speaker 2: go do what makes you successful. I'm not telling you
47:48
Speaker 2: go shoot somebody, gang. I'm not telling you do that
47:53
Speaker 2: to go make a song because me, I can make
47:55
Speaker 2: a song about the breakfast club when I leave. I
47:59
Speaker 2: don't have to make something that's violent. Make a song
48:02
Speaker 2: about this yellow carpet. And I feel like that's what
48:05
Speaker 2: art is. So I don't feel like I'm fighting myself now.
48:10
Speaker 2: I used to. I made songs about me being a
48:13
Speaker 2: hypocrite and stuff, but that's when I was being a hypocrite.
48:17
Speaker 2: I think kids should learn from other people's mistakes too.
48:21
Speaker 2: But I think kids nowadays, they see people's mistakes and
48:24
Speaker 2: want to do it because they think it look cool.
48:26
Speaker 3: You think rappers sometimes mature faster than their music allows
48:30
Speaker 3: them to? Meaning like you're becoming one person in real life,
48:34
Speaker 3: but your audience still wants music from the person you
48:37
Speaker 3: used to be.
48:37
Speaker 2: For sure. That's happening right now.
48:39
Speaker 4: I was literally about to say, I feel like that
48:41
Speaker 4: is what a lot of I'm seeing about your album.
48:43
Speaker 2: I think that's happening right now. I think my music's
48:47
Speaker 2: gotten better, but people, my target audience, and I'm glad
48:52
Speaker 2: it's happening. I don't think little kids in my demographic
48:57
Speaker 2: of people that really listen to my music know how
49:02
Speaker 2: to accept music that invoke emotions other than anger. So
49:09
Speaker 2: anything that's like make you feel sad or happy or motivated.
49:13
Speaker 2: I heard a lot of people say, this album's too positive.
49:17
Speaker 2: That's on you. You know what I'm saying? Like, I
49:20
Speaker 2: don't care. I haven't heard anybody say the lyrical content's bad,
49:24
Speaker 2: the production's bad. They never say that. They say it's
49:27
Speaker 2: too positive. You need to make crash out music. I'm
49:29
Speaker 2: not doing that. Go listen to my old crash out music.
49:32
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? So I think, yeah, yeah, no, but.
49:37
Speaker 2: I also think we're getting older. We're not getting younger.
49:41
Speaker 2: I'm not about to be talking about what I was
49:42
Speaker 2: talking about at 21.
49:45
Speaker 6: I know you said you want to be known as
49:47
Speaker 6: one of the best lyricists from this album, but in
49:50
Speaker 6: knowing that you shifted what your message is and that
49:52
Speaker 6: your audience was going to have that reaction, for the
49:55
Speaker 6: people from your audience who are used to the other
49:56
Speaker 6: music that Skilla Baby makes that stick around to love
49:59
Speaker 6: this album, what do you want them to mature and
50:02
Speaker 6: realize from the way that you shifted in your music
50:05
Speaker 6: on this project?
50:06
Speaker 5: Um.
50:07
Speaker 2: I want everybody to get their personal message from it,
50:12
Speaker 2: I think. Because there's so many messages on the album.
50:17
Speaker 2: You got Dear Mama, where you can feel like you
50:21
Speaker 2: loving your mama. That was motivated by a Tupac song,
50:25
Speaker 2: for sure. You got Strength in Numbers with Erica Campbell,
50:28
Speaker 2: where I was inspired by We Are the World, and
50:32
Speaker 2: I just wanted to make a song that felt like,
50:35
Speaker 2: positive and motivational for everybody to come together. You also
50:39
Speaker 2: got the respect my gangsta with Nas to where it's like,
50:43
Speaker 2: all right, this is not respect my gangsta where I'm
50:48
Speaker 2: a real gangsta figure in the neighborhood. This is like
50:52
Speaker 2: from corporate to everyday life, respect me, you know? So
50:57
Speaker 2: it's like product of my environment where I'm talking about
51:01
Speaker 2: how my environment influenced me to be a certain way.
51:05
Speaker 2: I think everybody can get their own message if they
51:08
Speaker 2: sit with it. I think a lot of people just
51:10
Speaker 2: sonically wanted me to make some music that wanted to
51:13
Speaker 2: make them go to the club and I wasn't about
51:15
Speaker 2: to do that.
51:16
Speaker 3: I just got a couple more questions. When you, when
51:17
Speaker 3: you was like lying there after being shot, right? Did
51:20
Speaker 3: you ever think to yourself, and I might, I might,
51:23
Speaker 3: I might check out before I become everything I'm supposed
51:26
Speaker 3: to become in life.
51:28
Speaker 2: I mean, I got up out the car as soon
51:31
Speaker 2: as I got shot and got in another car and
51:32
Speaker 2: drove off. But, When I was lying on the hospital bed,
51:36
Speaker 2: this is a true story. When I was lying on
51:39
Speaker 2: the hospital bed when I first got in the hospital,
51:41
Speaker 2: my first question was, am I going to die? He
51:44
Speaker 2: was like, no. And I started laughing.
51:46
Speaker 3: Wow.
51:47
Speaker 2: So I wasn't really like, after he told me I
51:51
Speaker 2: wasn't going to die, I wasn't really worried about none
51:53
Speaker 2: of that. I was good after that.
51:58
Speaker 3: Because I heard you say early in the interview that
52:00
Speaker 3: you could have died. For sure.
52:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had holes in me. I could
52:05
Speaker 2: have bled out. But after I figured that out, I
52:08
Speaker 2: was good. I was good, for real, for real. And
52:11
Speaker 2: I wasn't really more so worried about not accomplishing all
52:14
Speaker 2: my goals. It was just not being there for my family,
52:17
Speaker 2: for real. Because my career is going to be my career.
52:21
Speaker 2: I'm really a family-oriented guy. I put my family first.
52:25
Speaker 2: Everybody will tell you that. I make sure my family
52:27
Speaker 2: good before. And this is a real story. And I
52:31
Speaker 2: want this to be... put out there and clip too.
52:35
Speaker 2: I have multiple houses that I own. Like, you know
52:38
Speaker 2: what I'm saying? When I got shot and I was
52:41
Speaker 2: going through losses and I lost money, I sold my
52:44
Speaker 2: jewelry before I sold my houses. You know what I'm saying?
52:47
Speaker 2: Because I think in my neighborhood and where I come from,
52:51
Speaker 2: people keep their fronts up. You know what I'm saying?
52:54
Speaker 2: But I understand the value of my homes, you know,
52:58
Speaker 2: and I'd rather have them to lead to my family
53:00
Speaker 2: than some jewelry. You know what I'm saying? So it's like,
53:03
Speaker 2: I sold my jewelry before I sold my houses. So
53:06
Speaker 2: it was like, I want people to understand that too.
53:09
Speaker 2: Like I'm family oriented. I don't, I'm not, I'm not
53:15
Speaker 2: this person that wants you to like me more than
53:17
Speaker 2: I want the wellbeing for me and the people that
53:20
Speaker 2: I love.
53:20
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
53:22
Speaker 3: Are you in a hurry to do anything right now?
53:24
Speaker 2: A hurry?
53:24
Speaker 5: Yeah.
53:25
Speaker 3: Just in life.
53:27
Speaker 2: I just want to be an icon. So I'm just,
53:31
Speaker 2: I'm not in a hurry to do anything. But I'm motivated.
53:37
Speaker 2: I've been doing acting classes, doing more acting stuff. I'm producing.
53:42
Speaker 2: I'm writing for people. I want to be all icon,
53:47
Speaker 2: all entertainment. So I know it's steps to get to there.
53:49
Speaker 2: But I'm doing more stuff like that instead of trying
53:53
Speaker 2: to be the biggest artist in the world. I know
53:55
Speaker 2: there's a lot of stuff I could do to get publishing,
53:58
Speaker 2: to do all things entertainment. I'm also... I'm opening different
54:05
Speaker 2: businesses and doing things like that, so I'm not in
54:08
Speaker 2: a hurry or a rush to do anything. I'm motivated.
54:10
Speaker 3: You don't seem like you care about your image no
54:12
Speaker 3: more either.
54:12
Speaker 5: Mm-mm.
54:14
Speaker 2: Because my image, like... My image was cool and stuff.
54:21
Speaker 2: This is time for the prayer, too. My prayer time.
54:25
Speaker 2: My image was like... You want to stop and pray?
54:28
Speaker 2: We can.
54:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, come on.
54:30
Speaker 2: You going to do it?
54:30
Speaker 3: Let's do it.
54:31
Speaker 1: Come on. Come on. Come on.
54:35
Speaker 4: You can go in prayer or you want us to pray.
54:38
Speaker 5: Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, I thank you for bringing us
54:44
Speaker 5: together today. I thank you for Scalababy and his journey
54:46
Speaker 5: and his voice. I pray that you cover him.
54:48
Speaker 4: You continue to lead him down a path of leadership.
54:50
Speaker 5: But also down a path of vulnerability as he places
54:53
Speaker 5: his life story out for other people to see, to know,
54:56
Speaker 5: to understand, but also to follow him in the right way.
54:58
Speaker 5: I also pray that you comfort him in moments where
55:01
Speaker 5: we don't even understand what comfort is, where he may
55:02
Speaker 5: not understand what comfort is, but that you sit right
55:05
Speaker 5: there next to him, you speak to him, you hold
55:06
Speaker 5: him in the ways that he is needed, because there
55:09
Speaker 5: are moments and times where only he will understand exactly
55:11
Speaker 5: what you were saying to him, why, and who you
55:14
Speaker 5: are as you show up there, God, I pray that
55:15
Speaker 5: you show up, you show up clear, I pray no
55:18
Speaker 5: spirit of confusion, no spirit of fear, and I just
55:20
Speaker 5: pray that you continue to show favor in his life,
55:23
Speaker 5: I think that he, I know that he is here
55:25
Speaker 5: for a reason, I know that he is still here
55:26
Speaker 5: with us for a reason, I know that you will
55:28
Speaker 5: continue to you know, display that for him as he
55:30
Speaker 5: continues to walk forward.
55:33
Speaker 3: I pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. Should
55:37
Speaker 3: we end on that? The price of fame is out
55:40
Speaker 3: right now, man. Beautiful prayer, Lauren. The price of fame
55:43
Speaker 3: is out right now. Skilla Baby, keep growing, my brother.
55:46
Speaker 2: Appreciate you.
55:46
Speaker 3: Yes, sir. It's The Breakfast Club.
55:48
Speaker 2: Man, that just made my day.
55:49
Speaker 3: Yes.
55:50
Speaker 4: Hold up.
55:52
Speaker 2: Every day I wake up.
55:53
Speaker 3: Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club.
55:55
Speaker 2: Y'all finished or y'all done?